GVHS student earns essay award

Published on March 23, 2011 at 10:49AM

(GUNNISON) – A Gunnison Valley High School student took first place in the “Being an American Essay Contest.”
Heidi Sorenson, representing the Mountain Region, earned First Place and $5,000 in the Fifth Annual Essay Contest, sponsored by the Bill of Rights Institute, an educational non-profit organization based near Washington D.C.
Her sponsoring teacher, Arti Olsen, also received a cash prize.
Both Sorenson and Olsen won paid trips to the nation’s capital and were honored Tuesday at an awards gala emceed by Juan Williams and featured a keynote address by John Stossel.
The Washington D.C. trip also included a Capitol Hill luncheon and tours of the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court and National Archives.
In her winning essay, Sorenson wrote about Abraham Lincoln as the individual who most embodied the American character.
She wrote that if we’re persistent through whatever comes, we’ll become a stronger and more united nation.
Sorenson, along with Olsen, return home on Thursday.